Recommended from Around the Web (Week Ending October 25, 2014)

In Conversation: Marc Andreessen
This Q&A with early Web pioneer turned vocal venture capitalist Marc Andreessen gives a sense for his provocative, if sometimes glib, thinking on technology.
—Tom Simonite, San Francisco bureau chief

Gamergate: The Internet Is the Toughest Game in Town—if You’re Playing as a Woman
Charlie Brooker on the horror that is Gamergate.
—Will Knight, news and analysis editor

To Siri, With Love
A touching story about an autistic boy’s relationship with Apple’s personal assistant.
—Will Knight

Machine-Learning Maestro Michael Jordan on the Delusions of Big Data and Other Huge Engineering Efforts
In a Q&A with Lee Gomes, a technologist delivers a good old-fashioned debunking of several ideas in computing.
—Brian Bergstein, deputy editor

Beware, Playing Lots of Chess Will Shrink Your Brain!
Sometimes, a little brain shrinkage may be a good thing.
—Nanette Byrnes, senior editor, Business Reports

Weekly Innovation: An Umbrella for the Modern Age
Really, how long did it take to figure this out? At least we have a new umbrella for our imminent New England winter.
—J. Juniper Friedman, associate Web producer

Meet Facebook’s Mr. Nice
A new Facebook feature that lets you know when you’ve hurt someone’s feelings aims to cut cyberbullying by teens on the social network.
—Tom Simonite

The Slide Rule: A Computing Device That Put a Man on the Moon
A tribute to a nearly defunct totem of nerdliness.
—Linda Lowenthal, copy chief

China’s Massive iCloud Hack Is So Obvious It May Be a Message to Apple
Motherboard notes that the nature of the attack suggests whoever did it doesn’t seem to care who catches them.
—Mike Orcutt, research editor

After JPMorgan Chase Breach, Push to Close Wall St. Security Gaps
The very ominous cyber-attacks at major banks may reflect inadequate controls over vendors they do business with, the New York Times reports.
—David Talbot, chief correspondent

‘Dating’ vs. ‘Married’: How Text Messages Change Over Time
Neat analysis of a couple’s texting patterns as their relationship evolves.
—Rachel Metz, senior editor, mobile

Escape from Microsoft Word
Why does Word drive writers insane? “Because its Platonic model—like all Platonic models—is magnificent in its inner coherence but mostly irrelevant to the real world.”
—Linda Lowenthal